September Stories

I have several stories to document/share.

Several weeks back, my mom and dad watched the girls for us while we attended the Akron football game. Matt was marching in the alumni band, and I went with a friend. Well, they brought their dog, Max with them. You will remember, it was hotter than hot that day. So to keep Max cool, Dad and the girls sprayed Max with the hose. They both loved it! Hannah has no fear and loves dogs anyway, but she is especially taken with Max. She petted him and sprayed him. Even when they came in the house, she stood at the back door and said, "Mac, Mac." She wanted to go back outside to play with him. (He's a huge yellow lab; so he can't come into the house.) Everyday for about two weeks after that weekend, she asked for "Mac." Laura played fetch with Max. She liked to throw the dummy, but she was not fond of taking it out of his mouth. He brought it back to her, and she asked Dad, "What does he want me to do?"

Hannah is at the stage where she likes to read the same book over and over again. Her favorite one right now is the one with all the pictures of animals in it. She brings it every night to Matt's or my lap and says, "buk, buk." Of course, if we don't promptly bring her to our lap and read the book, she throws a tantrum. Her favorite animal seems to be horses right now, which she refers to as "neigh, neighs." She gets confused between the sound the sounds the animals make and the names of them. She prefers the sounds. Her favorite a while back was the gorilla. She likes to pound her chest!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the row dinner that our friend hosted for the sousaphone row of the OSU marching band. Our friend owns some horses, and his wife took Laura out to feed the horses treats. Laura loves this activity. Well as they were walking out in the pasture to the horse, Laura told Sue, "I don't want to step in the poop. Will you lift me over it?" Hilarious. She was very concerned about stepping in a pile of poo!

You may have seen a few posts on facebook referencing the "fun" birthday party we attended last weekend at Chucky Cheese. (If you can avoid that place, I recommend do so at all costs!) It is a chaotic room of kids running in all directions and playing games that involve noises and flashing lights. The one upside - the pizza is pretty good. So anyway, we survived the birthday party, with the intent of not going to that place again, if at all possible. We got home about 7pm, and Laura walked to the couch and immediately fell asleep. I took Hannah upstairs for a bath. After her bath, she likes to run around upstairs naked for awhile. So I let her do so, while I put away a basket of laundry. I picked her up and took her to the changing table to put on her jammies. To my horror, I laid her on the changing table to discover my arm was covered in poo! Oh, yes. Hannah had pooped somewhere in the upstairs. I yelled for Matt. He comes upstairs, but not immediately to my aid. He first wants to find the pile of poop, which turned out to be in our bedroom. Lovely. I cleaned off my arm while he cleaned up Hannah. Then I cleaned up the mess in the bedroom. Guess we learned our lesson!

We had Matt's birthday this week. He turned 37! We gave him presents Friday night, and then I made cupcakes for the tailgate on Saturday. Laura was very worried Friday night that no one was coming to his party. So cute! We explained to her that the tailgate would be like his party. So she was OK with that. We sang to him, and the girls helped him open his presents. One of the highlights - Laura picked out some presents at Target for him. Her and his favorite was the package of M&M's that we wrapped up! She know what her daddy likes!


Last weekend Matt and Chuck hosted their first tailgate of the season. It was a beautiful afternoon. I took the girls down to the tailgate, and they had a wonderful time. Laura actually went down on the bus with Matt. She is such a social butterfly like him. We got to visit with Wendy, Steve, Bryce and Caitlin, who we haven't seen forever. So that was enjoyable. There was a good turnout at the tailgate, about fifty people. It was a great time. Matt, Scott, and Dom played the group a Buckeye song on the sousaphone. Very cool. The girls played with sidewalk chalk and some other toys they brought. And of course the best part was that the Bucks won! We are tailgating again this weekend! (Not sure if the kids are attending though.)

We were watching the Duggars on TV last night, and they were at Niagara Falls. Laura is watching and she says, "Mom, did you know that if there is a huge river and a huge waterfall, then that's China?" Hmmm...didn't know that.

Fall is Here!

Well I totally slacked off the last month of summer. August was a busy month filled with festivals and parties. And although we had a great time, I am really glad September and, more importantly, FALL has arrived.

I'll give you a synopsis of August. We went to the Bratwurst festival and had an awesome time. We ate tons of junk food, like fried cheese and apple dumplings. Laura and Hannah loved the parade and they got to see their daddy. Matt marched in the parade and played the concert. The girls had a wonderful time with Papa and Grammy too. There is of course a funny story. Saturday night of the festival Mom and Dad watched the kids for us, and Matt and I went to my friend, Dawn's, house to hang with some friends. Well I drove the girls up to the Elks to drop Michelle off for a while. As we passed my parents' house, there was my dad in the front room doing this funny dance that looked like a semi jumping jack. SO HILARIOUS! On the way back, he was doing another dance, shaking his hips from side to side. We laughed hysterically. As it turns out, Dad and the girls were camping out in the living room, and they were having a dance party. Very cute!

Later in August we went to Avery's birthday party. Laura and Hannah had a great time there as usual. They love to play with Avery and Peyton. We went to a bounce house where the kids ran around jumping on everything, and then we went to lunch and had Rachel's awesome chocolate cupcakes, the highlight for the adults! Then we took the kids back to the Childress', where they played all afternoon. I think the adults could have used a nap, but the kids played to their hearts' content.

At the end of August, we got to share our big news. We are having our third child in March. When we told Laura, she was very excited. She keeps changing her mind as to whether she wants a brother or sister. And she has plenty of name suggestions for us. When we asked her a few weeks after we told her if she had told her friends at school, she said, "No, I will tell them when the baby gets here." She was very matter of fact.

September has finally brought some cool weather. Matt and I are very ready for that and of course football season. (We've just blocked out the first game that was 100 degrees!) We hope the cool weather stays. Laura has started preschool at her daycare. I am very impressed with her teacher and their curriculum. I think that Laura will enjoy this school year. She is so independent these days and yet so distracted. She wants to do everything by herself, such as putting on her jacket and buckling herself into her car seat. But when we are getting ready in the morning I have to tell her about fifteen times to do one task, like brush her teeth; she continually, will get distracted by Hannah or a toy on the floor or a song on the radio. It seems we are getting to work later and later these days! It's amazing how much she has grown though. She is such a little girl now. Her baby and toddler years went so fast.

Like her sister, Hannah has grown up a lot in a month too. She moved into the Toddler room at daycare. She transitioned seamlessly. It was amazing. She is still the most laid back kid alive. She needs virtually no warm up time in the morning when we drop her off. She just puts her "this" (pacifier) in her cubby and starts playing. However along with moving into toddler hood, she has started having the famous temper tantrums and impatience. When she's not getting what she wants or not getting it fast enough, she will start crying instantly and saying, "Noey." That is pretty much her favorite word. Generally, she is a happy, independent toddler. She and Laura love to dance to the Fresh Beats on Nick Jr. And playing chase is another of their favorite games. They chase each other and then fall on the ground laughing. It's precious to watch.

We have many fun things planned this fall, so I will have some stories and pictures of course.